


The Bookshop at the End

by Mersheeple



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bookshop, F/M, Severus Snape Lives, Short Chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:33:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24528433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mersheeple/pseuds/Mersheeple
Summary: There is a small bookshop at the end of the street advertising for an assistant. What secrets does it hold?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 183
Kudos: 242





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a plan to write short chapters and make a happy story. There will be eventual HGSS. There will be fluff. There will be seemingly random weirdness. I have no idea when I will be updating this story. When I feel like it is likely!
> 
> Thanks for reading! I love comments and will answer every single one because that is what I do when I have time! And we all have time right now.
> 
> Stay safe loves. <3 Mersheeple

He should have known he would not be left alone forever. And if he were honest, he should have known that it would be her who would find him here in the bookshop he had purchased just before the end of the War. Just in case he had managed to get out alive.

“Professor Snape?” Her voice broke through his thoughts and he mentally groaned, turning around to look at the young woman who had stolen the voice of a young girl.

“Granger.” He acknowledged her with a nod and turned back to what he was doing. Would she leave him alone?

“It’s good to see you Sir. I’m…” She trailed off, unsure in a way he had rarely seen her before she spoke again in a rush. “I’m glad you survived. I was wondering if you were still looking for an assistant?” She gestured to the sign in the window and he frowned. He had hoped for a muggle who would not know who he was.

“Only if you call me Severus.” He heard himself say as he nodded, accepting that she may want to take a break from the Wizarding world as much as he had.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A snippet of their working day, of the conversations, of them growing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday! This is another little chapter of one of their conversations as they start to work together well. Enjoy! <3 Reviews are love!

They worked well together. She was less annoying than he had expected and he was far less dour than he had been. They talked about favourite books and Hogwarts Professors. They did not talk about the War.

“You should have been in Ravenclaw, Granger.” He had said it before but, after a discussion on the merits of Muggle literature, he was even more convinced.

“So should you, Severus.” Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him.

“Not enough darkness.” He gave a half smile at her and she rolled her eyes, laughing at him.

“I wanted to be known for something other than books and cleverness.” She shrugged and he heard the wistfulness in her voice.

“And instead you became known as the brains of the Golden Trio.”

“I just wanted more for myself. Why weren’t you put in Ravenclaw?” They had had this discussion before but he had never answered truthfully. It was the sadness in her eyes that made him do it for the first time.

“I asked where I could learn to be more powerful than any Gryffindor. I wanted to be more than Potter and Black.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus learns a lot...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another little chapter because I love you all...<3

The first person who had come looking for her was not the dunderheads of the Golden Trio. It was Neville Longbottom. Because of course it was.

“Mr Longbottom.” He nodded in acknowledgement and was surprised when Neville approached him first.

“Mr Longbottom is my father. Call me Neville.” Neville held out his hand and Severus frowned slightly.

“Neville! What are you doing here?” Severus exhaled a breath, thankful to be saved from any further awkwardness. 

“I thought I’d take you for lunch.” Neville pulled back from the hug first and Hermione smiled sweetly at him.

“Oh Neville that would be lovely but I…”

“Hermione’s lunch is in fifteen minutes.” She did not usually take a full break and Severus did not want Neville to think he was stopping her from doing so.

“That’s ok, I can have a look around if you don’t mind?” Neville smiled at him and wandered to the section on Muggle gardening techniques.

“It appears you aren’t as scary as you were any more Severus. Not after he killed Nagini.” She spoke softly and walked away smiling to herself.

“LONGBOTTOM KILLED THE RUDDY SNAKE!?!”


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another old face enters the bookshop...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! I hope this chapter finds you all well and happy and, most importantly, safe.  
> <3

“It is a joy to see you again, Brother.” Severus raised his head at the words before he noticed the man standing in the doorway and raised his eyebrow almost to his hairline.

“Brother? It has been many years since I have heard that title, Lucius. What brings you here?”

“You were more brother to me than any of the others Severus, you know that. I heard that you were…are alive.” Lucius coughed delicately and his eyes flicked around the shop. Severus rolled his eyes and saw Hermione returning to the shop.

“As you see, I am alive.” Lucius stepped towards him then and Hermione stepped through the door. Severus’s eyes widened as he saw her notice Lucius and Lucius turned to see what had captured Severus’s attention.

“Miss Granger.” Lucius nodded in acknowledgement and looked mildly uncomfortable.

“Mr Malfoy, I see you found the place alright. Do you now believe that I am not insane?” Hermione’s eyes sparkled as she looked between the two wizards, a question or three currently forming in both their minds.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reaction to Hermione's slip in telling Lucius that Severus is alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I LOVE this chapter because Severus describing Lucius gives me life...LOL
> 
> Love you all <3

“Why did you tell him, Miss Granger?” Severus was angry. He hadn’t called her ‘Miss Granger’ in weeks.

“He was lamenting your passing, Severus. He was thoroughly drunk and angry and making a fool of himself…”

“That’s what he does! He drinks and makes a fool of himself. Lucius has been doing it for more years than you have been alive!” Severus truly hated raising his voice at her but she would not back down from believing she was right.

“Severus, why are you so angry? He is your friend, isn’t he?” Hermione spoke softly, her eyes full of concern.

“Miss Granger, he is an egotistical fop with a twisted sense of self preservation and a heinous fascination with the Dark Arts. Why would that be my friend?”

“I apologise, Headmaster, for assuming that you would want to have someone to talk to other than the Insufferable Know-it-all.” Hermione scowled and picked up her bag, walking out of the shop and leaving him wondering if she would bother coming back so he could apologise.

She had called him _Headmaster_ but he knew that she was using it as a substitution for the word she really wanted to use.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus tried to make things better. Will Hermione accept his apologies?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I now know how many chapters there are of this story. I will still only be updating once a week though.
> 
> Love you all!

He had tried to fix his mistake. Not that he understood exactly what he had done wrong. But she was angry and that made things difficult. He had hoped that she would cool down. 

She didn’t talk to him anymore and he missed it. Missed her. At least she still came to work though. He wondered if perhaps he could talk to her and break through her anger.

“Hermione? Have you filed the latest Potter Biographical?” He hated that they sold so well but it seemed that Potter was still big news.

“Mmm.” A syllable of noise passed her lips and he groaned softly. Not even a real word. That was just great.

“Well where are they? They’re not in the usual place.” He growled softly, knowing that they were definitely _not_ where he had expected them to be. She grabbed the books from his arm and marched to the back of the shop, muttering under her breath as she did so.

“Probably located somewhere in your colon…along with that goddamn stick of yours.”


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never rehearse what to say when you could be overheard...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday!
> 
> Thank you to all the new subscribers and all those that are following with my other stories too...
> 
> If anyone has a prompt idea for my collection of stories "A dash of spice" (basically anything to do with similar scenarios to the one already up) then feel free to add it to the comments there... :D

“Hermione, will you accompany me for a drink? No, too forward. Hermione, any plans for the weekend? Yes you idiot she’s working here. Hermione, you look very attractive today. Oh for Merlin’s sake!” Severus paced the office space at the back of the shop and groaned to himself. He had been practicing what to say to convince Hermione to give him a second chance at friendship. He took a breath and turned his back on the shop.

“Hermione, would you care to join me for dinner tonight? As an apology for my abysmal behaviour of course. I…I miss our camaraderie…” He hung his head, shaking it softly.

“I miss it too Severus. Dinner sounds good to me.”


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an apology, how things have changed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Wednesday! That means...here comes something short and sweet...

Things had mostly gone back to normal in The Bookshop at the end of the street. The people that worked there seemed friendly enough and they had regular visits from very strange folks.

There was the young man with dirty fingernails and a goofy smile. He visited every few weeks and took the female assistant for lunch, always stopping by afterwards to pick up a book on plants.

There was the blonde older gentleman with the cane who stopped in late at night and would purchase whatever book was near the front of the shop. Strangely, the books at the front always seemed to be expensive and on a bizarre range of subjects.

And a few months after it opened there was a grey cat that would walk into the shop and never walk out. But every week it would walk in.

Severus found, strangely, that he didn’t mind the visits as much as he thought he would.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione just wants Severus to be happy...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday all!
> 
> I have a goal over the next few days to update/write/post a total of 27 fics and ficlets and updates before the end of the month. There will be a lot of posts in the next few days so for that I am sorry...well, not sorry exactly, but consider this a warning!
> 
> If anyone has an idea for a prompt they would like me to write, hit me up over on tumblr (same username as here) and I will see what I can do. Or just come say hi!

“You know, Severus, the shop is doing well enough that you could take a day off sometimes.” Hermione paused in re-shelving the books by hand and turned to look at him, standing behind the till.

“And what would I do with this mythical time off?” Severus raised his eyebrow and smirked at her. He didn’t have anything to do. He was quite content running his little bookshop thank you very much.

“You could date. You could go out and visit various places. You could go to a library. You could visit with friends. You could…oh I don’t know Severus. You could live!” Hermione burst out the last sentence as if it were a declaration and he gave a half laugh as she turned away, her cheeks turning pink as she spoke softly.

“Why else would we have saved you if we didn’t want you to live?”


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus finds out exactly WHO saved him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evening all! Everything changes tomorrow (Thursday 6th August 2020) and updates may be more sporadic. I will be doing my best to update but...I will not make any promises.
> 
> Thank you for the love and support (especially those of you who comment on multiple fics!) and I hope to be around and available asap...

Severus had asked for the full story. Who had saved him? Who was ‘we’? Hermione had hemmed and hawed over the answer before finally admitting that she had returned after the end of the Battle to find him half-alive and had called, strangely enough, to Lucius Malfoy.

“He was your friend. I hoped he owed you something. He arrived in a billow of cloak and told me he owed you everything. He called for a Healer and told me he would get everything sorted.” Hermione had shrugged as Severus looked at her, his jaw dropped like a dunderhead. She giggled and walked away, tidying the children’s books where “D is for Dragon” had somehow been placed next to “Grindylows and Mermaids: Monsters of the Deep” by one of the latest children to frequent the store. He frowned in confusion at her back and spoke again, almost without thinking.

“You called a known Death Eater to come help a Muggleborn witch save a traitor to both sides? Miss Granger, you are quite quite mad.”


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a what now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all who read this: you are wonderful, you are special, you are enough and you are valid. I love you all. Every single one of you...

Somehow, dinner out had become a regular thing. They took it in turns to pick the restaurant, sometimes having fast food, Severus’s guilty pleasure, others having a sit down meal which included a bottle of wine, Hermione’s choice. He had always thought it was just a sensible thing to do. Until she used _that_ word.

She had been on the telephone to someone, Harry Potter he had later discovered.

“Sorry, I can’t tonight. No, I’m not working. I have a…thing. Yes. Yes. No. I definitely can’t rearrange. Yes, I’m sure. Next week? Maybe. Ok ok…yes next week! Where what? Where am I going? Oh, um…he’s taking me for dinner. Yes. Why is that so hard to believe? I have a date. Yes, for Merlin’s sake. I have a _date_.”


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a date? It's a date? What will Severus do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have some very exciting news...I have to wait until Friday to view a flat (apartment) but if I like it (it has 4 walls and a roof and is mine!) then I can stat moving in from Monday 24th August!

They continued to go out weekly. Severus rarely, if ever, chose somewhere too intimate. It made him uncomfortable. She had called it a date. Were they dating? Was this what it was meant to feel like? Two people going out, enjoying their time together, talking about anything and everything?

Oh.

Oh hell.

This was definitely dating. He hadn’t even realised it when it started. He just liked her company and wanted to make amends for being an unmitigated arse. He liked spending time with her.

Oh dear. It was worse than he thought.

He liked her.

He genuinely _liked_ her.

Oh dear Merlin and all his wicked minions!

Severus swallowed thickly and turned back to their conversation. What now? What the hell did he do now?


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Has to be done...the Lily Chapter...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I'm updating too much all in one go...Sorry!

“We need to talk about Lily.” Severus swallowed thickly. It was the end of the day and Severus had put this off long enough. It had been two weeks since he had realised that he felt genuine affection for Hermione and he had made the decision they needed to talk.

“Do we?” Hermione sounded nervous, more nervous than she needed to be at the very least. Severus nodded and waved her into a chair, flipping the sign on the door to Closed and realising he could not delay much longer. He took a breath and turned to look at Hermione.

She was sitting in the chair he had indicated, her ankles crossed and a frown on her face. He took her in, her naturally fluffy hair, her whiskey warm eyes, the smattering of freckles over her nose, the natural upward curve of her lips and he smiled. Yes, this was right.

“We do. We need to talk about Lily Evans.”


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The inevitable conversation about Lily Evans...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to post the last chapters over the next two days...I'm struggling mentally right now so I need to finish this little story so I can try to get back to feeling a bit better.

“Other than my Mother, Lily Evans was the only person who ever liked me. She was my only friend. And she was a Gryffindor. So, she didn’t like me for what I could give her but instead for…me.” Severus felt the words tumbling out but refused to look at Hermione in case he saw pity in her eyes.

“She was…the first person to show me any affection and I believed it meant more than it did. When…” Severus paused, wondering how much to say but knowing he needed to cover it all.

“How much did Mr Potter tell you about my…friendship with his mother?”

“Less than you have, Severus. Only that you loved her and then something happened and you weren’t friends anymore.”

And there it was. The part of the conversation he was dreading. Why they had stopped being friends. Lily had never forgiven him. Would Hermione?


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The continuation of the Lily conversation...

It was like a plaster. It needed to be ripped off quickly. As quickly as possible he felt. And so, he took a breath and stared at the ceiling, still refusing to meet her eyes.

“I called her a Mudblood.” He waited in silence as he wondered how she would respond. What came next surprised him though.

“Why?”

“I…I was suspended by my ankles and being embarrassed by Potter Senior and Black and…does it matter why? I still said it.”

“Yes, you did. But yes, it matters. It matters to me.”

“They used Levicorpus and threatened to strip me. She tried to help and…and I told her I didn’t need any help from a Mudblood like her.” Severus hung his head in shame and closed his eyes, waiting to hear her leave him standing alone. Hermione approached him slowly and touched his arm lightly.

“Severus, do you think of anyone as a Mudblood? Do you think of her as one? Do you…is that how you think of me?” He raised his head to her and their eyes caught. He whispered just one word on a breath.

“No.”


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Dunderhead comes to visit...

Severus was whistling around the shop again. He was always whistling these days. Hermione smiled to herself as he walked past her, the whistling stopping as the bell above the door jingled.

“Mione? You in here?” _Oh Merlin, what was Harry doing here?_ She hurried away to the front of the shop and headed him off.

“Hi Harry! Have you come to take me for lunch? That’s lovely of you. Come on, I can go slightly early today…” She tried to manhandle him out of the door but he would not move.

“It’s only ten am Mione. Too early for lunch. I thought I’d come meet the man who has been taking you away from us…” Harry trailed off as she heard Severus’s footsteps coming down the aisle and knew he had come into view. She stiffened slightly and watched Harry raise an eyebrow in an unconscious mimicking of Severus himself.

“Snape?” Harry’s jaw dropped and he turned to stare at Hermione.

“Mr Potter.” The cool drawl worried her slightly and she turned to look at Severus as Harry opened his mouth.

“I thought you said you were going out on dates? With…with SNAPE?”


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confessions from Severus...

Severus had raised an eyebrow and looked at Hermione, willing to take his cue from her. Hermione had straightened her spine, rolled her shoulders, and looked determinedly at Harry.

“Firstly, it is _Master_ Snape or Professor Snape. And secondly, why shouldn’t I go on a date with him?” Hermione folded her arms, her hair sparking and Severus recognised the signs that she was angry. More angry even than he had made her. It made him slightly smug.

“Mione, Mione, it’s ok…It was just a shock. I didn’t realise it was Master Snape that you were dating. There’s nothing wrong with it. Nothing at all. You make a lot of sense. You fit. I just didn’t know ok? I’m sorry Mione, I just didn’t know.” Harry spoke placatingly and held his hands up in an appeasing gesture towards Hermione. Severus felt it was only fair to rescue the young man, seeing as how quickly the boy had accepted their relationship.

“It’s ok Mr Potter. I didn’t know either.”


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But why do you like me?

They had laughed over it later. How could he not have known? Of course, when he explained it, she had admitted that she had probably read more into it because it was what she had wanted.

And he had stared at her then, completely confused. Why on Earth would she want him? She could have any man she wanted. Why would she want him?

“Because I like you Severus.” She said the answer as if it was obvious. But it wasn’t, not really, not to him.

“But, Hermione, why me? I’m nothing special…and I’m far too old…” Severus tucked his hair behind his ear, a nervous habit he hadn’t been able to shake.

“Because you are special to me Severus. Isn’t that enough?”

And for once, it was.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kisses

They kissed for the first time among the romance novels. It was trite. It was cliché. It was ridiculous. It was perfect.

The second time they kissed, they got caught by Lucius Malfoy. He took one look at them and laughed at how uncomfortable they looked. Lucius picked up the book from the front of the shop, an enormous tome on the History and Traditions of the Malkia Tribe with regards to Elemental Magic, flicked the money at the till and left.

The fifth time they kissed, they were interrupted by a very loud, purring, grey tabby cat. Severus had laughingly shooed the cat out. It was the only time the cat would leave through the front door.

The ninth time they kissed, Neville Longbottom blushed and stammered and stuttered out an excuse to why he was arriving early. He had mentioned asking Hannah Abbot to marry him and the idea was planted easily into Severus’s head.


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final Chapter - their love endures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the last chapter. Love you all. Thank you for sticking with me, even though my MH has been horrendous and I've disappeared for long periods of time. I really appreciate all your support and love and comments and kudos. HUGE thanks to the Hearts and Cauldrons people <3 <3

She had been working for him for a little under two years. They had been dating for almost twelve months. He had bought the ring six months into the relationship and was now completely sure it was what he wanted.

He had thought about trying to rehearse the proposal, but she always seemed to interrupt him when he was about to start. And so, the rehearsal had never come about.

He loved to kiss her among the romance novels, the same place he had kissed her the first time. It was their place. She took his breath away, stole his heart a little more every time he kissed her.

“Marry me.” He said it once, just like that. Not a question, a demand. A hope. She answered him anyway.

“Yes.”


End file.
